World’s Coolest Dad Hacks Donkey Kong So His Daughter Can Play As “Pauline”

What is one to do when one’s three-year-old daughter sadly realizes that she can’t play her favorite video game as a female character? Why, hack the game’s ROM, redraw the palettes, and convert Mario into a little girl character named Pauline, of course. At least, that’s what you’d do if you were as cool as YouTuber Mike Mika.

“My three year old daughter and I play a lot of old games together. Her favorite is Donkey Kong,” said Mike in a comment under the video embedded below. “Two days ago, she asked me if she could play as the girl and save Mario. She's played as Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros. 2 and naturally just assumed she could do the same in Donkey Kong. I told her we couldn't in that particular Mario game, she seemed really bummed out by that.”

Making "Pauline"

Mike used the 2010 NES Donkey Kong ROM, and if this video is any indication, he did a nice job converting Mario to Pauline:

If anyone else wants to give this a try, Mike included a link to original ROM and XDELTA for the Pauline patch.